Got a lot closer to the Sandhill Cranes this time

Was driving by the nearby golf course, when the greenskeeper waved me over, and said the Sandhills were out on the course. He lent me a golf cart, and I trucked on out to find them. Please bear in mind, I'm still shooting with a small tripod with only a Markin's M-10 ballhead on it. This arrangement is NOT easy to shoot a long lens with!
ISO 800 for all and slow shutter speeds, due to stopping way down for increased chance of in focus keeepers! This was a very shky setup at best. The tripod setting in the passenger footwell of a gold cart, isn't the steadiest way to secure a tripod &amp; big lens!
This one shot @700mm:{}
Model NIKON D2X
Flash Used No
Focal Length 700 mm
Exposure Time 1/250 sec
Aperture f/10
ISO Equivalent 800
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Mode matrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program aperture priority
This one 500mm:{}
Model NIKON D2X
Flash Used No
Focal Length 500 mm
Exposure Time 1/160 sec
Aperture f/11
ISO Equivalent 800
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Mode matrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program aperture priority

since I didn't have the right equipment, and also, I didn't raise the tripod enough either. Had to bend way over and get all scrunched up to see through the finder. Didn't want to fool around raising it for fear of not getting the shots. This pair didn't have any babies this yr, and are the only ones around for miles. Odd they come back to this same place every yr. Promised the pro's wife a couple nice 8x10's as a thank you.

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